Democratizing the Green City? Urban Biodiversity between Participation and Expertise

The politics of biodiversity has recently emerged as a key issue of urban governance. Big cities are investing massively in the greening of urban spaces as part of their strategy of both sustainability and competitiveness. Greening urban spaces means not only renewing or adding some natural elements to urban landscapes, but intervening on their social dimensions. Programs of urban biodiversity triggers interesting dynamics regarding the relations among technical experts, citizens and green politics. Notwithstanding its ‘naturalistic’ feature, urban biodiversity is neither purely ‘technical’ nor a ‘natural’ issue. It impacts directly on many social and political dimensions. So, what are the characteristics of the new urban politics of biodiversity? How is the problem of nature politicized by the main relevant collective actors? How does it become a public good, subjected to conflicts and aspirations to participation? The presentation compares evidences from in-depth cases of citizens participation and conflicts in the metropolitan area of Milan. It pinpoints the key aspects of the politics of urban biodiversity and link them to the broader attempts to ‘democratize the green city’.